Chicken?
by BloomingViolets
Summary: SPD. A proposal gone wrong. [SkySyd]


Okay, I know I know another story from me. But this one couldn't be helped (grins) Melissa attended the Youmacon 2005 convention and as soon as she showed me a picture of Chris Violette and Alycia Purrott together, my inspiration came flooding back almost immediately. So, you'll have to thank Pink-green-white-4ever for bringing my inspiration back! Hopefully, more updates will come tomorrow!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize.

_xxx_

**Chicken?**

He stared nervously at the clock, watching as the little hand continued to keep ticking, indicating that time was slipping away. His palms were sweaty, his heartbeat was racing, and he felt ill just thinking about it. Today was the day that could possibly be the beginning of the rest of Schuyler Tate's life.

That is, if it went well.

If it didn't go as planned, then it would be the end of his life as he knew it.

Two extremes concerning his life.

And of course, Sky was hoping for the better scenario of the two.

He had already picked out the perfect ring with Bridge and Jack months ago. But had he found the perfect moment to propose? No, he hadn't. Every time he tried, he ended up chickening out. All day, he'd thought of what he was going to say to her. Actually, he had been trying to think of it for the past four months. And he had never come up with anything that he thought was suitable, or romantic.

He had gone through lot of trouble just to hide the ring, too. First, he tried hiding it in Sydney's jewelry box. But then, he realized that Sydney happened to keep all of her jewelry in there and would most likely find the brand new ring.

After he tried hiding the ring in the jewelry box (and then quickly removing it the next morning when Syd opened it), he decided to hide it in the fridge. Of course, when Sydney went to open the fridge almost immediately after he hid it there, he shoved her (in the nicest way possible) out of the way and put the ring in his pocket. Then, Sydney proceeded to get mad at him for shoving her "so roughly" and it inevitably led Sky to sleeping on the couch for the night.

Sky was beginning to see the ring as a bit of a menace.

Finally, he decided to just hide the ring in one of his old socks that he never wore. He hid the sock in the upper left corner of his bottom drawer and there it stayed for three months without being harmed or discovered.

But no matter what, tonight was the night he was going to do it. He was going to propose to Sydney even if it killed him.

He had managed to get reservations at Sydney's favorite restaurant and they had agreed to head to dinner at seven-thirty that night. It was already 2:00 in the afternoon, meaning Sky had four hours before he had to get ready, to come up with the best speech possible that would determine his happiness for the rest of his life.

He had been distracted all day, trying to think of anything that could possibly sound somewhat romantic. Something that would convince Sydney to say, "Yes Sky, of course I'll marry you!"

And of course, he couldn't come up with anything that he thought was perfect in any way.

He needed some help.

_xxx_

"_Please_, help me?" Sky pleaded pathetically with Jack after an hour of mindless banter.

"Why should I help you with this again?" The red ranger smirked as he leaned back against the couch with his hands rested behind his head and his elbows sticking in the air.

Sky was so frustrated that he was tempted to break something. Perhaps, Jack's finger. Or his arm. Or his leg. The blue ranger wasn't feeling picky at the moment.

"Look," Sky bit out through a clenched jaw, "we've already gone over this. We've _been_ going over why you should help me for an hour now. Ever since I drove over here in an apprehensive mood. My nerves are shot. And, let me remind you, I am less than calm at the moment with nervousness. And you're making it worse because you're being so _difficult_!"

"Temper, temper," Jack leaned further into the couch and continued to smirk at the blue ranger. "Remind me one last time. Just so I understand."

Sky let out a growl that rivaled Commander Cruger's. _Jerk. I ought to beat you to a bloody pulp right here and now. _

"Fine," Sky muttered. "I need to ask Syd to marry me. And I need your help figuring out my brilliant speech. I'm taking her out to dinner and proposing to her tonight at the restaurant and I need to say something that will make her say yes. It's already 3:00 and I only have three hours before I have to get home and get ready-"

"Wow Sky, I never knew you were so girly that you'd have to take excessive amounts of time getting ready for dinner. I guess Syd has rubbed off on you."

Sky let out another growl. _He's doing this on purpose. He's just trying to get under my skin because he wants to see me get upset. _

"And why do you need _my_ help again?" Jack gave another smirk.

_And it's working. He knows exactly what to say to make me lose it. I should just end our friendship here and now. _

Sky glared. "You. Are. _Impossible_!"

The red ranger only gave him a smug grin. "I try."

Sky took a deep breath. "Fine, have it your way. Obviously, you're useless at this kind of stuff." He rose from his seat.

"Okay," Jack shrugged his shoulders. "Good luck!"

Sky sent another murdering glare towards Jack. Trust Jack to make his life unbelievably difficult. "Whatever, I'm leaving."

"Bye!" Jack called cheerfully, waving.

The door being slammed was the red ranger's only reply.

_xxx_

Sky buried his head in his hands.

"So let me get this straight," Bridge was saying, "You're finally going to ask Syd to marry you? Awesome!"

He let out a sigh. "Can we _please_ get back to the topic at hand?"

Bridge looked at him weirdly. "What topic? We never became off topic. You were the one that brought up the subject in the first place."

Sky felt his temper get the best of him. "I meant back to the topic of _helping me_ plan my speech!"

"Oh."

There was a silence.

"So help me!" Sky burst out. "It's already-" he glanced at his watch, "4:00! I only have two hours to come up with something remotely decent!"

Bridge held up his hands. "Alright already! Calm down Sky, you're going to give yourself a heart attack." Then, the green ranger stopped and paused. "Can you give yourself a heart attack by proposing to someone?" he asked thoughtfully.

Sky only groaned loudly.

An hour later, they _finally _came up with a decent plan for the proposal.

"Are you sure about this?" Sky asked tiredly for the fifth time, rubbing his forehead.

"Look," Bridge sighed, rubbing his eyes, looking equally as drained as Sky did. "Just trust me. And look at it this way, if it doesn't work, go with the whole 'I love you, will you marry me?' thing. That will work too, you know."

"But that's so _unoriginal_," Sky complained.

"This is why you have your completely _original_ speech to save you. And if it doesn't work, you'll have to go with the boring way. At least it'll work."

"Can we go over it one more time?"

Bridge gave him a bored look.

"_Please?" _

"Fine," Bridge sighed, "but only because this is one of the most important days in your life. And don't forget, I get to be the best man."

"Yeah, yeah. So, I have to make sure I act really… _nonchalant_ about the whole thing. Like it's not even coming, right?"

"Right."

"And then, I have to lead the conversation over to eternity, yeah?"

"Yeah," Bridge replied, looking as if he'd fall asleep right there on the couch.

"Wait, _how_ do I do that?"

"Mention something about wanting to live for eternity… wanting to stay like this with her forever…" Bridge said dully.

"Okay… so then I tell her that and say that I love her and ask her to marry me so we can be together forever."

"Yeah…"

"Bridge?"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks a lot."

There was no answer. Sky looked over at Bridge and a second later his eyes narrowed. Bridge had fallen asleep. "I am not that boring!" The blue ranger said in a huff before getting up to leave.

_xxx_

"I can do this… I can do this… I can do this…" Sky muttered as he stood in front of the full length mirror, as he put on his tie. His hands were shaking, and heart rate was probably off the charts. Was it bad that he felt like he was about to hurl at any given moment?

"Sky," Sydney's voice called from the bathroom as she cracked open the door, "Would you be so kind as to hand me my dress?"

"Huh?" Sky's thoughts were broken and he looked around the room.

Syd's bare arm stuck out from the bathroom. "Can you hand me my dress Sky?"

"Oh!" Sky quickly picked up the dress that was lying on the bed and draped it over her arm. "Here you go."

"Thank you," she stated happily before slamming the door in his face.

"I can do this… I can do this… I can do this…" Sky went back to muttering before the bathroom door opened once again.

This time Syd's head poked through. "Can you hand me my gold earrings? The long dangly ones."

Sky ambled over to the dresser, pulling at his too-tight collar, and began sorting through the small pile of earrings that lay there. Picking up a pair of gold, dangly ones, he headed back over to the bathroom.

"Thank you honey!" Syd flashed him a smile before disappearing into the bathroom once more.

He looked over at the bedside table and noticed a tube of lipstick on the verge of rolling off onto the floor. He quickly snatched it up and tossed it behind him towards the bathroom just as Sydney opened the door again, "Hey Sky, can you get me my-" With a startled yelp, she clumsily caught the lipstick, and stuck her tongue out at a highly amused Sky. Then she shut the door with once again.

Sky let out a sigh, trying to calm his nerves. He walked away from the mirror and went over his checklist one last time.

Ring? He felt his front pocket and felt the squarish object. _Check._

Money? _Check._

Clothes on? _Check._

Shoes? _Nope_. He put on his shoes and continued the checklist.

Proposal? _Check._ He remembered it. At least, he did at the moment.

Sky sighed. He was prepared as best as he could be.

Minutes later, Syd stepped out of the bathroom and Sky lost all thought. The pink ranger smiled cheerfully, enjoying the look on his face. "I'm ready to go now!"

Sky swallowed, his nervousness back in full force. "Oh…um… yeah… let's go."

_xxx_

They arrived at the restaurant at exactly 7:29pm on the dot. By then, Sydney had caught onto the fact that Sky was acting more peculiar than usual. The pink ranger frowned as she caught her boyfriend patting the front pocket of his coat for the seventh time that night. Sky was fidgety that night and he was usually never fidgety!

"Honey," she stared at him with puzzled blue eyes. "Are you sure you're alright?"

Sky stared at her nervously. "Of course! Why wouldn't I be? I'm fine, perfectly fine," his voice was starting became a little squeaky. "Just fine." The blue ranger gulped nervously when Sydney narrowed her eyes at him. "Really, I'm fine."

Sydney continued to look at him strangely, but didn't comment. Within minutes, the pair was seated and the waiter was handing them the menus.

"So how was your day?" She asked, after they had ordered their food.

"My day?"

Sydney looked amused. "Yes Sky, _your_ day."

"It was good. Wonderful. You know, the usual. Uh… how was yours?"

There was just no way he could tell her that he had spent all day obsessing and pondering over possible proposal techniques. It would completely ruin the spontaneity of the proposal. Now, that wasn't his intention at all.

Syd glanced at him with a concerned expression. "Are you alright?" She knew Sky had his quirks, but he was just being downright _weird_ today.

"Of course," Sky answered quickly. A little _too_ quickly, she thought. "I'm fine. Just fine. Perfectly fine. I'm just fine and dandy."

Syd fought the urge to roll her eyes. Sky was clearly not fine. Honestly, it was just like talking to him back when he had stuttered around her all the time. That was some point before they got together officially. "Okay…" she replied slowly. This was far too suspicious. And with Sky, when something seemed out of the ordinary, it usually was. "Well, my day was alright. I was able to get a lot of work done with the Cadets."

"Oh, that's good," Sky replied.

They both fell into an awkward silence that also reminded Sydney of their first few dates together. Honestly, what was going on with him?

"So… Syd…" Sky began, fidgeting slightly.

The pink ranger instantly became alert. _He's planning something. He always fidgets when he plans. _"Yes?"

"Wouldn't you love to be like this for eternity?" He asked in one breath.

Sydney raised an eyebrow, feeling a tiny bit confused. "Uh… sure… I don't know. I'd like to move on with my life, too. I wouldn't always want to be this age."

"You wouldn't always want to be twenty-four going on twenty-five?"

"No…" she replied slowly, her confusion growing. _Okay, should I even mention the fact that I want to have kids at some point? Or is that going to cause a heart attack?_

"Why not, though?" Now Sky looked confused as well.

"Because…" she stalled, choosing her words carefully. "Because, I'd want to… uh… get to know… um… the pleasures of getting older, I guess."

"What, having your hair turn white?" Sky was really confused now. When had they gotten on the subject of getting old?

"No!" Sydney exclaimed. "I was talking about the… the near future. I don't know…" _He's obviously not ready for any discussion of marriage. Or Kids. It's like he's completely in denial. So much, that the thought of marriage or kids hasn't even crossed his mind. _

"Yes, you do know," Sky persisted.

"I don't think we need to discuss any of this right now."

"Why not?"

"Because… just _because_," Sydney said with finality. Another silence elapsed.

After a pause, Sky decided to continue on with his speech once more. "Well, what I meant about living for eternity was that… I… um… want to stay like this… with you forever." He looked at her meaningfully, hoping that she would catch his drift.

Sydney stared at him with wide eyes. _I didn't know he didn't want marriage this badly! He just wants us to remain as boyfriend/girlfriend. He doesn't want us to get married. But… but… but… what about kids? I want a marriage and kids!_ "Like what, exactly?" she asked, narrowing her eyes, slightly.

Sky gulped. He knew that look – he'd known it since he first met Sydney and she introduced him to her Glare of Death. Perhaps she didn't want to marry him? "L–Like this?" he tried tentatively.

"I understand that, Sky. What is '_this_'?"

"Together, like this," Sky said. He didn't think it was so hard to understand, but obviously Sydney was having trouble.

"Sky!" Syd exclaimed irritably. "What is '_this_'?"

The blue ranger was saved from having to further explain himself because their food had arrived. He dove into his meal eagerly, thankful for the distraction.

Sydney watched him, torn between disgust and amusement. And anger at his previous "wanting to remain like this forever" statement.

"Schuyler Tate… you better explain to me–"

_No, she's not making me explain anymore. I will **not** fight with her right now. She will not finish that sentence._

"Marry me?" Sky said, looking up at her, holding out a piece of chicken on his fork.

_Damnit. God damnit to hell, I was only trying to offer her some chicken. She **tricked**_ _me into saying what I meant! She ruined the spontaneity of it! Well, no she didn't, it was still rather spontaneous, but not what I wanted to do! That was very sneaky of her…_

"What?" Syd asked, her eyes growing wide as she dropped her own fork.

The piece of chicken dangled limply from the fork in Sky's hand as Sky did some quick thinking. _What could I have possibly said instead of 'Marry me?' I could have said 'Chicken?' After all, that's what I was trying to say to begin with._

"Chicken?" Sky tried hopefully.

"No…" Sydney sputtered, shaking her head slightly, as if in a daze. "No… you said –"

"Asparagus?" _Ah, that sounds more like 'marry me'. Slightly._

"You don't even have any asparagus on your plate. Besides, I hate asparagus," Syd pointed out. "But… you said –"

"Pickle?" Sky offered, holding out his pickle in his other hand so that he was offering her the piece of chicken and half of a pickle.

"Sky!" Syd exclaimed.

Despite himself, Sky couldn't help but grin. "You don't want a pickle?" he asked innocently.

"No, I don't want any pickle," Sydney said impatiently. "Or chicken. So put both of them back on your plate and stop offering me food!"

"You're not hungry?" Sky asked, trying to steer the conversation away from his mistake.

"Stop, Sky," Sydney demanded as the blue ranger surrendered and put his food back down on his plate, his eyes focused on the table. "Now, what did you say before?"

"I said… do I _have _to say it now? It's going to be ruined…" Sky spoke sadly, feeling downhearted.

The pink ranger hadn't the faintest clue as to what he was on about. "It's okay. Just say it."

"I said 'Marry me?'" he muttered.

Silence followed.

It was beginning to be too much for Sky, so he chanced a glance up at his girlfriend. He saw Syd sitting there with a small smile on her face and tears in her eyes, looking athim in wonder.

"Are you… are you… serious?"

He met her eyes and said, "Yes. I am, actually."

"Oh, Sky!" Syd exclaimed happily as she got up and threw her arms around his neck.

"Well, hold on, I have this…" Sky moved slightly and produced the ring from his pocket.

"A ring?" Syd asked with a watery smile.

Sky chuckled slightly. "I had to do at least _one_ part properly. I tried to make the proposal right… but well, that didn't quite work out, did it?"

Syd smiled and looked eagerly at the ring box, waiting for Sky to open it. Sky opened it and the pink ranger literally shrieked with delight when she saw the ring.

"It's… _gorgeous!_" she exclaimed.

_Of course it's gorgeous. I **did** pick it out._

The blue ranger took the ring out of the box. "Okay, I'm going to have another go at this. Sydney," he said seriously, looking her in the eye, "will you marry me?"

Syd nodded, seemingly incapable of speaking. Sky smiled broadly and slipped the ring onto her finger.

She looked at the ring happily and then looked at him, murmuring, "I love you," every so often. Sky just watched her, in a trance. He was really going to marry her. He'd been hoping for this since he was… twenty, when he'd finally realized that he had more than just a crush on Sydney Drew.

_Sydney Drew… Sydney Tate. Sky and Sydney Tate._ Something about that just fit together perfectly.

He looked at Syd again and saw that her eyes were fixed on his plate. "Is that offer for chicken still good?"

Sky smirked. "You didn't seem so keen on the chicken before."

Sydney rolled her eyes as Sky handed her his fork with the piece of chicken still attached to it.

He watched her chew on the chicken in a state of bliss. _So it didn't go exactly according to plan. Okay, it didn't follow the plan at all. But perhaps that wasn't so bad. She said yes and I've never seen her happier. I'll never think of chicken the same way again. Ever again._

_xxx_

Well? Review! Oh, and thank you for everyone who nominated me! (grins)


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